McColl's Christmas sales rise amid expansion programme

Convenience retailer McColl’s Retail said sales grew over the Christmas period, with a record performance on the day itself.

In a trading update for the six weeks to 10 January 2016, the group said total sales were up 3.3% thanks to its ongoing convenience store expansion programme.

Like-for-like sales were down by 0.7%, marking a 1.1% improvement compared to the fourth quarter of 2015.

LFL sales in premium convenience food and wine stores were flat with a 0.1% decline, while sales in standard convenience and newsagents were down 1.8%.

In the food-to-go category, sales were 25% higher.

The company said it achieved a record Christmas day sales performance as it opened 623 convenience stores compared with 578 the previous year.

Chief executive James Lancaster said: “I am encouraged by our trading performance over Christmas and New Year. Our strong sales have been driven by the continued focus on premium convenience stores, with the food to go offering going from strength to strength.

“I am also delighted to report us approaching 900 convenience stores, another important milestone on our journey to 1,000 convenience stores in 2016."

At 1447 GMT, McColl’s shares were down 0.3% to 136.82p.